Classic Bike Shows

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obmout & about - Weather beater

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Here they are, all the prize winners from the 30th Carole Nash Bristol Classic Motorcycle Show. Well done to you all and roll on next year.

...30th Carole Nash Bristol Classic Motorcycle Show

Despite dire warnings of extreme winter weather filling the news bulletins on the run up to the show, 17,000 enthusiasts still attended the 30th Carole Nash Bristol Classic Motorcycle Show at Shepton Mallet.

Bristol is the first major show of the season and gives the regular restorer – those who consistently turn out a bike every year – a chance to show off this year’s project nice and early. These talented lads and lasses can find a bike, strip and rebuild it in the same time it takes the rest of us to get going in the workshop.

Graham Bowen is just such a lad and turns out an excellent job with every bike he tackles. As a competition enthusiast my eye was naturally drawn to the stark TR6C on the stand he shared with Beezer man Derek Gothard. These stripped down models, rare in the UK, were built for the enduro and desert racing in the USA and were phenomenally successful. They bristled with special features like folding footrests and high pipes to minimise damage in the frenetic world of off-road racing.

Bigger and better

Bristol’s show gets bigger and better every year, yet retains the friendly ‘small show’ intimacy lost on some bigger events. Noticeable this year was the mix of not only traditional classic elements but a slightly more modern aspect too with a large number of oriental machines stunningly restored. This is all to the good – the classic scene thrives as new elements open up. Don’t you just love the classic styling of those CB750 Hondas?

The judges did too as Mr Weaver’s CB750 earned him the John Burton Historic Honda trophy. Someone else whose restoration caught the judges eye was John Guy. A long-standing member of Stonehenge Section of the VMCC, John is another of the dedicated restorers who turn out a high standard of work like clockwork. For his efforts over the winter in resurrecting a Magnat Debon Mr Guy was awarded Best in Show and takes his place on the cover of OBM. It was touch and go though as John only finished it a few days before the show.

A touch of glamour Motorcyclists of a certain age– that’s me, Tim Britton, aged 49 and three quarters – will remember the Norton ads of the early 70s that featured a selection of attractive models in typically 70s clothing posing with Commandos. Oh come on... Norton Commandos! The idea has a certain appeal and some silver tongued member of Bristol NOC convinced a couple of family members to don 70s clobber and replicate the ads. On behalf of us ‘motorcyclists of a certain age’ thank you Carley and Ella for looking glamorous all weekend.

If there was...

...an award for madness then Fraser Rush reckons he’d be a contender. Remember in our Bristol preview we mentioned that there’d be a bike build going on during the show at the Panther stand? Well, Fraser was the volunteer and when we saw him on Sunday morning he was well on the way to completion.

As he worked Fraser recounted the tale of the bike and its build, saying, “first of all, this is the method the factory would have employed when it was new. There’d be sub assemblies, the engine, gearbox, wheels and so on all ready built which would then be delivered to an assembly bench where one person would build one bike. They’d take a day to do it,” he says, “though I’ll be happy to do it in two.”

The bike belonged to Fraser’s mother and the reason for the rebuild was, while on a run, the float chamber dropped off the carburettor and the resultant stream of petrol caught fire and the motorcycle was burnt out.
Top club

One of the more hotly contested awards within Bristol Show is that of Best Club and it’s seen some imaginative entries over the years. This year, any of the three finalists could have taken top spot as each of their stands showed a fair bit of thought had gone into the theme. In the end though it was third place for the New Imperial OC, second place went to Bridgewater Chapter of Harley Owners’ Group, with a display harking back to the early days of the Harley-Davidson company over 100 years ago, when Messrs Harley and Davidson set to in a wooden shed and built their first motorcycles. With a workbench, hand powered drill and all sorts of other shed-like stuff, the true agricultural nature of manufacturing in the early 20th century was clear.

First place was a scene so truly English that it couldn’t have happened anywhere else. A slice of motorcycling that has entered folklore and become indelibly linked with café racers, rock 'n' roll, egg 'n' chips and the ton-up scene – an English Transport Café. This particular café was transported from nearby Wells to the showground and set up by, naturally enough, Wells Classic Motorcycle Club. So, well done to the club for balancing just the right amount of stodge on the plates, chequered tablecloths and jukebox; they’re going to be a hard act to follow next year.

Bare bones

If you, like us, wondered what that bloke on the New Imperial club stand was doing with a tape measure round that Model 5, we have the answer. David Jarvis has the bare bones of a similar Model 5 but the frame’s been badly hacked about. “It’s been lowered and chopped and all sorts of things,” says David. “Luckily all the lugs are there so it’s a simple re-tube that’s needed but I need accurate dimensions. I’m hoping to persuade the owner to take it all apart and let me use the frame as a template.”

Also on the New Imperial stand was Mike Davis who’d contacted the OBM office shortly after the show preview appeared in the last issue. In that preview was an unrestored Model 5 – chosen because the editor likes to see such machines – but it turns out that shortly after appearing on the club stand at the 2008 show this particular Model 5 was stolen. If you’ve been offered such a machine or parts from one, maybe suspiciously cheap, then Mike would like to hear from you...

For more information visit www.classicbikeshows.com

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Best Trade stand went to the Amal Carburettor Company who made a feature of their new 'stay-up float'.

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